Atwoli cautions SRC against doing away with MPs allowances, says they deserve better
COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli has requested that the Salary and Renumeration Commission not cut MPs’ salaries, arguing that they deserve much better to maintain their dignity.
Atwoli stated that MPs deserve to dress properly, look presentable, and drive fine cars in order to avoid appearing to be ‘conmen’ and engaged in nefarious practices to benefit themselves.
“The members of parliament should not be told you cannot have CDF… I don’t think we are moving in the right direction, our members of parliament must earn well, must have allowances,” Atwoli said.
MPs chastised the head of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission on Wednesday, threatening to cut the agency’s budget if their demands for increased pay are not met.
In a captive action that has come to characterize each new Parliament, SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich had a heated six-hour encounter with the MPs, who are enraged by the elimination of the Sh5,000 plenary sitting stipend enjoyed by members of the 11th and 12th Parliaments.
The legislators are also objecting to engine capacity restrictions on their vehicles, which the SRC set at 3,000cc in modifications published in the Kenya Gazette on July 28.
The MPs also want the previously larger mileage limit reinstated, as well as the restriction on the number of spouses and children who can be covered by their medical insurance lifted.
However, the SRC chair insisted that the sitting allowance had not been removed and was instead included in the MPs’ consolidated remuneration of KSh 710,000.
She told the MPs that the commission arrived at their work appraisal through a scientific, fair, and objective method.